I also wondered… it says it blocks an enzyme Covid needs. Will that make it variant-proof?
Evolution is a really weird thing. Never know if it’s possible to evolve to not need that enzyme, or if the virus goes the way of the dinosaurs. Just have to wait and see what happens. (Like, I don’t think early users of antibiotics had any idea that resistance was going to become a thing.)
Late July when I had to take Kiddo to get a PCR test his pediatrician was able to accommodate him same day. Now they’re booked out till Thursday so we had to go to a CVS instead. The pediatrician was able to send a nurse out to our car so she could do the swab, CVS they shove a test kit through the window and I get to swab my own kid by myself - meaning instead of me holding down his arms while another adult does the swab, I get to wrestle him and try to swab each nostril for fifteen whole seconds. Spoiler: it was not fifteen seconds. Also he didn’t have any sort of restraint on because I asked him to move up to the front seat, and wrestling a kid in the car sucks. I don’t know how much he weighs but standing he’s up to my sternum so I don’t have the physical advantage I had when he was a toddler.
But hey, I’m surprised it took eight weeks into the school year for him to get the sniffles. And, in case my opinion on this was at all fuzzy, if the kids vaccine could come out any fucking day now that’d be just spiffy.
Was reading a bit about the new Merck drug, molnupiravir, when I had some down-time at work the other day. Looks like it’s a neucleoside analog that works against all known Covid variants and could potentially work against ANY RNA virus. In the body, the drug is processed into something that looks like cytidine, and the virus’s RNA polymerase incorporates it into the viral RNA. Molupiravir changes shape (has tautomers) that resemble cytidine © or uridine (U). When strand of RNA containing molupiravir is copied, the virus sometimes interprets the site as C and sometimes as U, causing a large number of errors that don’t allow the virus to survive.
Made me think of another nucleoside analog, AZT, an early HIV drug, which works as a chain terminator. HIV quickly evolved to become resistant when AZT was used as monotherapy. I think it’s less likely for Covid to become resistant to the Merck drug, though, because Covid has a lower mutation rate than HIV, and it’s only a 5 day course, whereas people with HIV have to take antivirals for the rest of their lives. But who knows.
Merck is planning to charge $700 per course, about 40x what it costs them to make it. Also, there’s the potential for mutagenesis (you know, like, changing your DNA), so pregnant people were carefully excluded from the trials.
50% reduction in hospitalization and death is not as good as the 85% reduction seen with monoclonal antibodies, but 5 days of pills is much easier to give to a large number of people than an IV infusion.
Amazing news for those with elementary aged kids! Also just for general herd immunity.
Finally!
Looking at this announcement they won’t approve it before their October 26th meeting from the sounds of it. I had been really hoping they’d get them approved well before Halloween but that doesn’t look likely at this point.
I don’t have a solid source for this, but my understanding is that Pfizer’s data submission without a formal request last week allowed the FDA to schedule the 10/26 meeting in the first place, instead of waiting till today to figure out scheduling. After FDA approval will be CDC approval, it’s expected that within the next week CDC-ACIP will schedule that meeting for sometime after the 10/26 FDA meeting. So shots will likely be in November.
FDA approves the manufacture and shipment of vaccines. CDC approves how the shots go in arms.
Posted this in the flu shot thread but wanted any thoughts here, too.
We were going to wait for Lily’s well child visit in January but the pediatrician wants us to bring her to the flu shot clinic in November instead. At least it is quick and easy - there are a line of nurses right by the doors and you just walk up, and them your card, and get your shot. It usually takes less than 5 minutes
We’re doing the infant at the well visit, but also bringing the toddler at the same time for just her flu shot. But our pediatrician makes you stay in the car until an exam room is open and then texts you the exam room number and you walk straight in. Is it possible to check in, and then ask them to call you in the car or outside if there is a grassy spot instead of sitting in the waiting room?
We took the little boy for his flu shot, but they had a flu shot clinic setup - we checked in, walked over to the side of the room and got the shot. The whole thing took 5 minutes. No one else was in the waiting room.
Our pediatrician told us to do them early this year- she wanted them in early September.
Of course, my children keep getting sick so my efforts at flu shots have been thwarted, and we have cancelled 4 appointments for them…
It’s a bit of an iffy area, both people and busy traffic wise, so we’d prefer not to wait outside with a sprinting toddler. And she will NOT sit calmly in a car especially if the scenery isn’t changing. No grassy areas that wouldn’t be needle risk zones.
I’ll call and double check they’re not doing one for kids this year. They didn’t last year.
We took my toddler in a few weeks ago, as soon as it was available. BUT we’re in daycare and getting ALL the viruses. I think I’d be inclined to wait in your shoes as well, just due to the hassle.
We’re about to lose our mind over here.
Last Thursday, I was called to pick up Toddler early from daycare because he was lethargic and temperature was starting to climb. Also found out that another kid in class had croup.
Toddler is sick through the weekend. I rapid-test him for COVID and he’s negative. By Monday he has no fever, but lingering cough. We wait the 72 hours per daycare rules, and try and send him off on Thursday. He gets kicked out an hour later because he still has a cough. We need to get a doctors note saying that he’s not contagious.
We message Kaiser. They want him to take a PCR COVID test before they clear him. We do that. Finally, Friday afternoon, he gets the negative COVId test and the doctor’s note. Earliest we can take him to daycare is Tuesday because they’re closed for Columbus Day.
Meanwhile, I have done very little work since last Thursday. My husband and I were planning to alternate childcare so that we’d split the sick leave. But, whenever I try to work, my toddler screams for MAMA. I have also now caught whatever he had, so on top of all that, not feeling great either.
I don’t blame daycare for their policies, but they don’t have it written down anywhere!!! Their written policy says he needs to stay home 24 hours after fever breaks, but we were told due to Covid it’s actually 72 hours. This whole doctors note thing with a cough is new 
Ugh that sounds terrible! We did a similarly confusing dance with daycare and the doctor’s office several times. We started schlepping her over to the pediatrician for a PCR test at the first sign of a sniffle so we could minimize time out of daycare.
Honestly, COVID policies and daycare colds are why we switched to a part-time nanny last week. It’s one thing to know your kid is going to get colds in daycare, it’s something else entirely to have to pull them out for things that didn’t used to warrant staying home and wait an extra 2-3 days for PCR tests more than once a month.
I hope you feel better soon!
This is what I’m seeing for ALL the two working parent daycare families I know. I have no idea how people are doing it.
The state government has mandated that all workers in my industry be vaccinated by 1 January. I have spent a lot of time this week having what I consider to be very frustrating conversations with the people within my team (6 direct reports and then about 45 people who report to them) that feel like they go in circles. But also realised a lot of people really over estimate my power to do anything
I did have one guy ask me “since when do the government get to make laws that affect what people can do?”
Which really made me wonder who he thought had made all the other laws
In our house, we’re doing it with great reluctance and angst.
This made me laugh.
I’m tired of my daycare changing policies. They randomly decide the rule is 72 hours after fever, then it’s back to 24, then 72 again.
Apparently, masking in schools and a vaccine mandate for staff is super effective. My kids go to school in Denver Public Schools, which is a big public system but I didn’t know how big. I keep looking at these numbers of how many DPS students are infected–right now it is 200–but I didn’t know how many kids are in DPS. So I finally looked it up. It is ninety-two thousand. So the percent of DPS students who are currently considered to be infected is 0.2%.That… seems manageable? Especially since it is usually just 1 case per school, meaning they are not spreading it at school.
In contrast, during the peak of infection last holiday season, more than 1% of Denver residents were infected at one time.
Today’s NYT email is well worth the read. https://messaging-custom-newsletters.nytimes.com/template/oakv2?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20211012&instance_id=42622&nl=the-morning&productCode%3DNN=®i_id=127469195&segment_id=71397&te=1&uri=nyt%3A%2F%2Fnewsletter%2F3920aed4-2adc-5e7a-8901-0271ca47d214&user_id=ba2776f471dad03b28bee2abb895a85f
This was esp interesting to me; “For children with such a condition, the danger is higher but still lower than many people believe. The risk of long Covid among children — a source of fear among many parents — also appears to be very low.”